


That's Not John's Baby, Mr Holmes. (Why the Plant Moved.)

by SweetLateJuliet



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-02
Updated: 2014-03-02
Packaged: 2018-01-14 08:46:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1260208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SweetLateJuliet/pseuds/SweetLateJuliet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Because genetics.</p>
            </blockquote>





	That's Not John's Baby, Mr Holmes. (Why the Plant Moved.)

I think the plant moved because John isn’t the father of Mary’s baby, and Mary knows it.

**Mary’s Suspicion**

When Sherlock tells Mary she’s pregnant, she shows confusion:

then pleased disbelief:

joy:

panic:

and finally contemplative deceit, looking down and away.

The “mouth cover” is a classic indicator of dishonesty. Notice, too, how deeply her eyes are shadowed in this sequence. The shadows on John’s and Sherlock’s faces are much gentler.

Inference: She’s realizing it might not be John’s baby.

(This happens as “December, 1963” plays, a man singing about a one-night stand; he “didn’t even know her name.”)

Mary’s worldly. If the baby might not be John’s, she’d want to  _know_.

**Paternity Testing**

A non-invasive prenatal paternity (NIPP) test can be done as early as the sixth week of pregnancy. It analyzes fetal DNA in the mother’s bloodstream against the mother’s and alleged father’s DNA, and shows whether it’s possible or impossible that the man is the father.

(more info: [lay terms](http://americanpregnancy.org/prenataltesting/paternitytesting.html) | [science!](http://www.nature.com/gim/journal/v15/n6/full/gim2012155a.html))

The most pertinent bits: This test can be done early in pregnancy. The results are available in less than a week. Mary could get the test done without John’s knowledge; she’d need to submit her own blood sample and one secretly obtained from him, or possibly even a saliva, hair, or “forensic” sample from him, like a toothbrush.

A paternity test gets us thinking genetics. Like DNA:

chromosomes:

and DNA testing:

(image sources: [1](http://www.keen2learn.co.uk/product/DNA-Activity-Model.php) | [2](http://www.nature.com/nphys/journal/v3/n4/full/nphys591.html) | [3](http://healthland.time.com/2012/08/24/whos-your-daddy-a-mobile-paternity-testing-truck-offers-answers-on-the-go/))

**And the Plant?**

The moving plant certainly evokes Sherlock’s [interiority](http://mid0nz.tumblr.com/post/76909626311/that-fucking-plant-those-fucking-lamps) and disorientation.

But mainly, it calls attention to itself. “They” knew we’d notice.

And when you look at the plant scene closely, you might see…

a double helix of DNA

a pair of chromosomes

and a DNA test.

The mise-en-scene is strikingly empty but for these visual features, the three bodies, and CAM’s bed in the foreground.

It’s a strong suggestion that Mary knows it’s not John’s baby.


End file.
